the mote notorious terrorist, osama bin laden. his plans and fears. parts of the documents hitting the internet right now. we're combing through it for you. >> zero warning is what friends and family say about the sudden death of junior seau. new questions about whether his suicide was the result of a concussion back in his playing days. we're in danger. the words of chen guangcheng now begging the united states to allow his family to board hillary clinton's plane to america. would you pay $1,500 for a piece of stale cake? "cnn newsroom" starts right now. we do begin this hour with breaking news. with a rare and startling look inside the mind of osama bin laden. right now the public is getting its first look at documents seized in the raid that killed the al qaeda mastermind. they are in his own words.

and they capture a fading leader desperate to launch another catastrophic strike on the united states. hundreds and hundreds of pages are now appearing on the website of combatting terrorism center at west point. peter bergen is our national security expert and was given early access to this so-called treasure-trove of material. what's been your biggest take away? >> i was able to review some of the documents that are being released today in the course of reporting a book i have written on the hunt for bin laden. the take aways clearly don't have operational information that would be useful to the cia and, b, put al qaeda in a bad light. it shows bin laden worried about drone strikes advising one of his sons to move out of the pakistani tribal regions and go to a very peaceful persian gulf kingdom and encouraging all of the young men to fight in holy

war and tell his own son to get out of dodge. he advises members of al qaeda not to, you know, to stop using the al qaeda name. in one case he sends a note to a leader of a somalia affiliate of al qaeda saying if you call your avenue al qaeda it would be bad for fund-raising. he talked about changing the name of al qaeda. he had catchy alternative names concerned that the obama administration had branded this war in al qaeda and its allies and thought if the name said instead of al qaeda said something about islam then the obama administration would have to talk about a war on islam and obviously they never changed the name of al qaeda. the picture emerging from this document is a micromanager. he was telling his group in north africa to grow trees so they would have cover for military operations.

now presumably they have something more pressing than planting trees for future military operations and who should be recruited for the united states terrorism. he talks about one recruited by pakistani taliban and tried to blow up a bomb in times square on 2010 saying he was a naturalized u.s. citizen and sworn allegiance to the united states and we should observe our oath. this was a puzzling thing telling his people not to use naturalized u.s. citizens who sworn an oath to the united states. if you're going to attack the united states, that's a group you probably want to have as potential pool of recruits. >> it sounds almost like osama bin laden was losing it. >> you know, i mean, the viewers can judge. he sounded like he was isolated. he spent six years in this

compound almost. he had had a lot of time on his hands. one memos runs to 48 pages. it's a long memo. he was getting in the weeds of personnel decisions asking for pulse on particular leaders and organizations and at one point he said, carol, if you send me money, make it in euros. he didn't want to take dollars. when he was killed he had some euros sewn into his clothing that you may recall. money was tight. he was talking with his team about kidnapping, which al qaeda defaulted to as a fund-raising measure. at one point he said when you get the kidnap ransom money, be sure to get rid of the bag in which the money came because there may be an electronic tracking device in there. he was giving advice on those sorts of issues. large and small. of course he was asking for attacks on the united states on president obama, general david petraeus. he said don't bother trying to kill vice president biden, secretary of defense gates or

admiral mike mullen. we should focus on these two guys. killing president obama or general david petraeus was easy to say that. quite another thing to implement. some of the senior administration officials i spoke to said that he was getting pushback from a number of his leaders in the organization saying we need to focus on things we can get done like killing american soldiers in afghanistan. >> you're going to be monitoring this website as those documents are released to the public. the government decided to do this because in the spirit of transparency. we'll get back to you later, peter bergen. thank you so much. we have nic robertson monitoring those documents as well and we'll hear from nic at the bottom of the hour in about 25 minutes. we're also hearing from another al qaeda leader from beyond the grave. al qaeda in yemen publishing the most detailed advice yet from the american born cleric anwr

al-awlaki. followers are urged to ignite wildfires in the united states and there are instructions on how to create an ember bomb. before he was killed in a september drone strike, his teaching inspired a number of terror attacks. latest writings justify killing of women and children. and use of chemical and biological weapons. we're also following a diplomatic crisis developing between the united states and china and in the middle a blind chinese activist now begging the united states to get him and his family out of china. just hours after chen guangcheng left the u.s. embassy in beijing, he said the u.s. brokered deal was not the humanitarian victory the u.s. portrayed. listen to his translated phone conversation with cnn's stan grant. >> translator: i would like to say to him please do everything you can to get our whole family out. i'm very disappointed with the u.s. government.

the embassy kept lobbying me to leave and promised to be with me at the hospital but this afternoon soon after we got here, they were all gone. >> stan grant has spoken to chen. he's also spoken to several of his friends. just a short time ago, stan, you spoke with the u.s. ambassador to china, gary locke. what did he say about this situation? >> reporter: he's really the man in the hot seat. if you look at the photographs that we saw yesterday of a smiling gary locke and smiling chen guangcheng as he left the embassy for the hospital at that point it appears as if they had a deal that china and u.s. came to an arrangement where chen would live freely and safely along with his family. that disintegrated quickly between leaving the embassy, meeting his family and hearing his wife saying she had been beaten in days leading up to his leaving the embassy and also speaking to us at 3:00 a.m. on thursday morning chen had done an about-face. he said he didn't want to stay

in china and wanted to be taken to the united states. he said he feared for his life and said that he felt the embassy let him down and that they almost forced him to leave. certainly very much encouraging had imto lea him to leave the embassy. i put those questions directly to ambassador locke. this is what he had to say. >> when he first came in, we took extraordinary steps to retrieve him. we found out he escaped and was in beijing and wanted to talk to us. we took a mission impossible retrieval to bring him into the embassy. he was clear all along he wanted to be reunified with his family and stay in china to be a freedom fighter. >> he put his life at risk. he said he had been brutalized for years. was he in a fit state of mind to make a decision like that that he wanted to stay? >> he had those options.

we have to respect his desires and his wishes and his free will. >> reporter: where does this leave it? chen guangcheng continuing to say he wants to leave the country and ambassador locke saying they will discuss that but here's the crucial bit to seek asylum he needs to be on u.s. soil. he was on u.s. soil. he was at the embassy. that's the place chen walked away from. >> i don't know. to put it not so gracefully, it's a hot mess. stan grant reporting live from beijing this morning. john edwards' driver returns to the stand today in the corruption trial against the former presidential candidate follows an emotional day for edwards' oldest daughter, cate. >> reporter: an aide who used to drive former senator john edwards around is expected to return to the stand here in greensboro today. nelson testified about the

stories edwards came up with to hide his affair with rielle hunter. they are painting a fuller picture of john edwards' activities in the run-up to the 2008 presidential campaign. one of the most intensely emotional points of the trial came when a former research director for edwards and a friend of his wife, elizabeth edwards, testified that mrs. edwards became so distraught following a story about the affair that she started tearing off her clothes in front of john edwards all the while saying you don't see me anymore. edwards' daughter, cate, seated behind the former senator walk you had out of the courtroom seen wiping aware tears. the prosecution is trying to show that edwards accepted illegal campaign money to try to cover up the affair. the defense is trying to show

edwards was trying to keep information about the relationship away from his wife who was dying of cancer. carol? >> joe johns reporting live from north carolina. you know that iconic painting, "the scream." an unanimous bidder paid nearly $120 million for it. it actually broke a new world record in new york. highest price ever paid at an auction for a work of art. it beat out a picasso painting that previously held the record. the pastel version is the only one not housed in a museum. it and three similar screams were created by a norwegian artist. how would you feel if your doctor or pharmacist or nurse was stealing from you? i'll tell you why federal agents say that's exactly what happened at a $452 million medicare fraud scheme. and shock and sadness from both fans and friends of junior seau and why one former teammate is

asking why seau didn't call out for help. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! for your family at e-trade.

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6,000 documents seized in a raid that killed osama bin laden last year have been released to the public. for the first time we get to read what the al qaeda mastermind was thinking. our security experts are sifting through those papers right now. all of the online papers if you will right now. they'll update us within the

hour with what they learned so far. secretary of state hillary clinton meets with china's president for talks on strategic and diplom issues but diplomatic issues are overshadowing those talks. chen guangcheng says he fears for his life and his family's if they stay in china. police find a million bucks, a million dollars in a storage unit. it's believed the money is connected to a fugitive arrested monday. bobby thompson is accused of setting up a phony navy charity and scamming millions of dollars from people in 40 states who had donated to it. he had been on the run for two years. police have him and his money now. the biggest single medicare bust in u.s. history. at least 91 people now in custody and that includes people you should be able to trust. doctors and nurses. the federal probe uncovered $452 million in false medicare

billings leading to arrests in seven cities. miami, chicago, tampa, detroit, baton rouge, houston and los angeles. in all 107 people have been charged. now you know you were right. fraud is a big reason health care is so darn expensive. sandra endo is live in washington to tell us more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. this is the largest bust in recent history capping off a several month long investigation by federal agents across the nation. and those charged include doctors, nurses, licensed medical professionals and health care company owners who are accused of allegedly submitting claims to medicare for treatments that were medically unnecessary and often times never provided. they are being charged with conspiracy, health care fraud, violation of anti-kickback statutes and money laundering. to give you an idea of the scope of the investigation, in miami, 59 people were charged as well as arrests made in los angeles, detroit, and baton rouge.

the attorney general and health and human services secretary announced the bust yesterday. >> today's historic takedown is really just the latest milestone in the obama administration's coordinated campaign to stamp out fraud in our health care system. when president obama took office, he asked the attorney general and me to make fraud prevention a cabinet level priority. since then we have more than quadrupled teams around the country charging hundreds of individuals with seeking to defraud medicare and medicaid of billions of taxpayer dollars. >> i'm just wondering, sandra, can you give us an example? give us a specific example of how these people were allegedly ripping people off. >> it's really egregious. the biggest case that federal law enforcement officials say happened in baton rouge where seven people are charged for

allegedly bilking $225 million worth in false claims. they allegedly recruited beneficiaries from nursing homes and homeless shelters who were really denied services or really provided with no services at all. carol? >> sandra endo reporting from washington. the death of junior seau is reigniting the debate over concussions in the nfl. dr. sanjay gupta looks at the dementia-like disease found in the brains of some former players. and later michele bachmann will endorse mitt romney later today but she spent a whole lot of time on the campaign trail last year ripping him apart. makes no sense in the real world but we're talking about the world of politics. we'll talk about that later. udd. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word. you have yet to master the quiet sneeze. you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts. well, muddlers, muddle no more.

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>> what can you say? it's beyond sad. football great junior seau apparently committed suicide something that surprised nearly everyone close to him. the 43-year-old seau was found dead in his southern california home from a gunshot wound to his chest. seau played 20 memorable seasons in the nfl. most notably with the san diego chargers. a former san diego teammate talked to espn about how seau would hide injuries to maintain his warrior image. >> junior wanted to make sure when you saw him, he was at full strength. you didn't want to see him at his weakest moments. but now i translate to his personal life. i'm, like, we were there for you, man. we knew you was a superstar. we knew you were a super person.

come out and tell us you needed us. >> junior seau's death adds to dark legacy of the 1994 chargers and becomes the eighth member of that super bowl team to die before the age of 45. it's too early to know whether junior seau suffered from a dementia-like condition during a nfl career and pounding. >> we don't know if junior seau has what a lot of people are talking about. cte. it's tough to talk about but the only way to really know for sure is to examine someone's brain after someone has died. that is when they know for sure if in fact this dementia-like symptoms affected junior seau. but there's a lot of similarities between him and a player who last year shot

himself in the chest as did junior and this is again an unusual thing to do. he left a note saying he wanted his brain examined for evidence of cte. that examination revealed that he in fact did have it. this dementia like disease is characterized of people having memory problems, cognitive problems, depression, anger issues. we see this more and more. i visited a lab in boston where they examined brains and the numbers are quite striking. 18 out of 19 nfl players who had their brains examined there after their death showed evidence. 18 out of 19. the youngest brain overall where this was seen in a high school football player was 17 years old. this process does seem to start quite early in life. now, today there's a lawsuit being filed against the nfl on behalf of 114 former nfl players

specifically regarding this issue. lots of details still coming in about junior seau. tragic case. as more details come to us, we'll bring them to you. back to you for now. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you today. should the united states help the blind chinese dissident leave china? it's not exactly a 3:00 a.m. wake-up call. more like a 1:30 a.m. wake-up call for the secretary of state hillary clinton. in other words, it won't take us to the brink of war but it might damage our already fragile relationship with china. the problem what to do about chen guangcheng. the blind chinese dissident left the refuge of the u.s. embassy after washington brokered a deal with the chinese over his future. now chen changed his mind. in a cnn interview and through a translator, chen pleads with president obama to help him leave china.

>> translator: i would like to say to him please do everything you can to get our whole family out. i'm very disappointed with the u.s. government. >> chen says u.s. officials pressured him to leave the safety of the u.s. embassy but the u.s. ambassador denies that saying chen left of his own volition. secretary christianilinton is c choosing her words in china. >> the united states raises the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms because we believe that all governments do have to answer to seasons aspirations for dignity and the rule of law. >> at this moment we want china's help dealing with north korea, iran and syria and more cooperation on fair trade rules and currency exchange. the chen situation makes things a whole lot tougher. if only because america prides itself on promoting human rights throughout the world even going

to with a aar to further that g. the talk back question for you, should the united states help the blind chinese dissident leave china? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. politics is one weird business, isn't it. it michele bachmann will endorse mitt romney today. i guess voters are supposed to forget all of the bad things she said about him last year. how is that going to work? we'll discuss. i went to a small high school. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us. made with only milk...

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just about 30 minutes past the hour. always wanted to take a class at harvard or m.i.t.? now you can for free. >> anyone even you, carol, anyone can take these classes so even if you got lousy grades, you can feel like a rock star and go to m.i.t. and harvard by taking online classes because

you don't have to go through the rigorous admissions process. here's the catch though. you don't get college credit for these classes but you are able to get an education. if you are trying to go back to school and it's been years, what you can do is use these classes as refresher courses before you apply for real credit and have to pay for actual courses or if you are out of work right now, what this can do is help you to expand your skills because remember if you have skills and you have a degree, all of that can help you sort of market yourself and get a job. you look at the unemployment rate for people with only a high school diploma at 8% compared to peach with bachelor's degree it's 4.2%. it helps to get extra skills on your resume. >> that sounds interesting. i could get into that. i like to learn new things. i'll check it out. "wall street journal" has a new report out this morning on the job market. wall street has a new report this morning. how are things looking? >> right now looking at a flat

open. stocks are in the green a little bit. you'll see wall street kind of on hold for the big jobs report that comes out on friday. there are new indications that things could be getting better and that layoffs seem to be slowing. in you this report shows fewer people signed up for new unemployment claims last week. claims fell 27,000. that's a sizable decline. let's see if this is a trend and not just a blip. >> all righty then. alison kosik reporting from the new york stock exchange. stories we're watching in the "newsroom." osama bin laden in his own words is what we're getting a look at today as some of the 6,000 documents seized in that raid that killed the al qaeda leader are now available online for all to see. our security experts are sifting through all of that stuff online right now and will update us in a few minutes on what they've learned. another twist in the case of the chinese activist chen guangcheng. he tells cnn he regrets leaving the u.s. embassy in beijing and now wants american officials to help get him and his family to

the united states. chen says he fears for his life and the life of his family if they stay in china. his plea comes as secretary of state hillary clinton meets with chinese leaders for talks on strategic and economic issues. a new jersey mother pleads not guilty to child endangerment after she was accused of taking her young daughter to a tanning salon and putting her in the booth there. her attorney says the child went to the salon but was never allowed into the booth. the new york post having fun with the story telling the woman toast of the town. mitt romney is about to get a shout-out from a political enemy. minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann who heads up the tea party caucus will endorse romney this afternoon even though she used to rip him to shreds. >> mitt romney is a known moderate in this race. they know that he's a person who has gotten behind planned parenthood before. he gave planned parenthood a

seat at the table on romney care in the state of massachusetts. people don't want that at the federal level. they know mitt romney is not going to be committed to repealing obama care. neither will newt gingrich. and obama care changes this country forever. we can't have it. i'm the only one who really will repeal this bill. >> of course that's when she was running against romney for the republican nomination and that was just one example from december. in the world of public, that is ancient history. whatever it is, it is confusing for voters who want to know where their candidate stands on issues. will cain and roland martin are here to talk about this. welcome, guys. i don't think endorsements matter much. politicians seem to love them. so do voters really care about bachmann's endorsement, roland? >> they don't care about any of these endorsements. you look at polling data, they don't care. look, just like they didn't care for will cain's beard, they don't care what michele bachmann is going to say or do.

here's the other thing, this also shows you why politicians, democrats and republicans, do not have any principles or convictions because if you said all of that stuff running against a guy, you should say, you know what, i'm not going to endorse him. i'm not going to sit here and campaign for president obama. but i can't stand here if you're congresswoman michele bachmann and being true to your principles and turn around and turn the other cheek and say he's a great guy. total nonsense. >> will, do you agree? why can't politicians stick to their principles and say i didn't like the guy then and i don't like him now. >> i agree halfway and disagree the other way. i don't think endorsements matter a lot. they agree on that. most people agree the choice is between obama and romney. the choice isn't between the ideal and obama. it's between the available and obama. now, here's where i think endorsements might matter a

little bit. if michele bachmann made a show of not endorsing romney, that's a bigger deal. that could affect people. if newt gingrich did the same and said i will not endorse mitt romney, that's bigger deal. but jumping on the bandwagon and picking the available against obama is not going to have that big of an effect. >> you mentioned newt gingrich because of course he endorsed romney yesterday. not so much because he really, really likes romney. listen to what newt gingrich said after he endorsed romney. >> i'm asked sometimes is mitt romney conservative enough? my answer is simple. compared to barack obama? this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftist president in american history. >> he kind of crystallized things, didn't he? >> that's newt gingrich being

honest and just what will said. he's saying, look, compared to president obama, mitt romney is conservative enough. it's a joke to say president obama is the most radical and leftist but that's newt gingrich being honest and that was the best romney is going to get out of him. >> will, go ahead. >> i think newt gingrich just l illustrated my point. it's great to ask people to be principled and they should be when they spoke for themselves and run for themselves and lay out what they believe in but in the end when you vote in november, you vote according to choices that are presented to you. the choices presented to newt gingrich are michele bachmann or me or roland and anybody listening is between mitt romney and barack obama. >> that's why if i am a politician, that's why i couldn't be one because if i don't like the other person, i'm saying i'm sorry. i won't play that party crap. that's the problem that people say they want honest politicians who are going to be straightforward and truthful but then again they always do the partisan dance to make the party leaders happy.

>> we have to leave it there. roland martin, will cain, thank you for a fascinating discussion. coming your way, osama bin laden in his own words. nic robertson sifting through documents online that were recovered in the deadly raid on osama bin laden's compound. nic, what did you find? >> more than 200 pages of information to go through. 17 documents. and amazingly, bin laden emerges that he was jealous of some of al qaeda's rising stars. that and more when we come back. all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. mmm-hmm. and just leave your phone in your purse. i don't want you texting, all right? daddy...ok! ok, here you go. be careful. thanks dad. call me -- but not while you're driving. ♪ [ dad ] we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. ♪

i worked at the colorado springs mail processing plant for 22 years. we processed on a given day about a million pieces of mail. checks, newspapers, bills. a lot of people get their medications only through the mail. small businesses depend on this processing plant. they want to shut down 3000 post offices, cut 100,000 jobs. they're gonna be putting people out of work everywhere. the american people depend on the postal service.

40 minutes past the hour. right now we're sifting through newly released documents that capture some of the final words and thoughts of osama bin laden. right now the public is getting its first look at these documents that were seized in the raid that killed the al qaeda mastermind. the capture of fading leader desperate to remain relevant and launch another catastrophic strike in the united states. hundreds and hundreds of pages now appearing on the website of the combatting terrorism center at west point. nic robertson is in london. you've been pouring through these documents. jealousy has arisen? >> reporter: it appears to. this radical muslim cleric who inspired people like the ft. hood shooter to attack american

soldiers and many other al qaeda operatives to mount attacks, bin laden seems to be jealous of him. there's a letter to bin laden saying we would like to nominate him as the new leader in yemen and bin laden writes back to say well noted but over here we like to see essentially someone tested on the battlefield. that's a slap down. that seems like jealousy. >> interesting. why has the government made these documents available to the public, nic? >> i think what they're trying to do here and they say that this is only 17 out of around 6,000 documents. this only a partial picture and we could use these documents to match them up against the other events that we're aware of to get a picture. what it paints here and i think this is the thrust of the documents that are released is that bin laden was at

loggerheads with his senior deputies and he was at one point advised to disown al qaeda in iraq and he wrote a strong letter to the taliban, al qaeda's affiliate inside pakistan telling them that if it didn't stop killing muslims, wee go public with them. we see him as a micromanager telling another al qaeda group to plant trees so they can hide underneath the trees of satellite and drone attacks by hiding underneath the trees. this is a man who is trying to control the empire. there are people out there in the field that strongly disagree with him and are going in their own direction. >> interesting. so you're going to continue pouring through this document. you'll have new information at the top of the hour in about 15 minutes or so. i'll let you get back to it. if all of you want to see documents for yourself, go to cnn.com. we have a link there to this west point site. you can look at these documents for yourself. you can see osama bin laden's

handwriting. there's a lot of interesting stuff there. cnn.com in case you want to go there. courtroom testimony. we hear about john edwards' wife having an emotional breakdown in an airport after a newspaper ran a story about edwards' affair. we'll tell you about who is testifying in his trial this morning. did you watch the royal wedding? wishing you could have taken part in the ceremony? you can. you can if you have the cash. even now. you can have a slice of will and kate's stale wedding cake. we'll be right back. ience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen. print it yourself or find a local partner. and you find the customers that matter most. brilliant! clifton, show us overjoyed. no! too much! jennessa? ahh! a round of applause! [ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail.

46 minutes past the hour. secretary of state hillary clinton meets with china's president for talks on strategic

and economic issues but a diplomatic crisis is overshadowing those talks. a blind chinese activist who left the refuge of the u.s. embassy in beijing is now begging clinton to help his family come to america. says he fears for his life and is in danger if he stays in china. john edwards' trial starts up this morning and his driver is expected to give more testimony. edwards' daughter cate, left the courtroom in tears yesterday after a former aide described an argument between edwards and his wife elizabeth. elizabeth, a brest cancer patient, was upset after learning of her husband's affair with rielle hunter. police find a million dollars in a storage unit believed the money is connected to a fugitive. bobby thompson is the fugitive. accused of setting up a phony navy charity and scamming millions from people in 40 states who donated to the charity. the phony charity i should say. he had been on the run for two years. many of us watched will and

kate tie the knot at the royal wedding last year. admit it. you did. you remember. the pomp. the circumstance. the fairy tale like scene. some of us dreamed of what it would have been like to attend. i admit. i did. maybe even try say a piece of the royal wedding cake. good news for you this morning. you could have a slice of that wedding cake. it's on sale. the very same cake. from the very same wedding. let's head to london and check in with max foster. sounds good. year old cake. >> yes. this is a fruitcake. it's a tradition. that you can keep it for a long time. your wedding cake. basically one of the guests, all of the guests, 650 guests at buckingham palace were given a cake in a presentation tin and one of the guests decided to sell that on. there's an auction taking place that finishes on the 24th.

it's expected to go for $1,500 in the end. you also have an order of service there. i'm sure a few questions at buckingham palace about who is selling this cake. completely unanimous. we know it was a guest. >> i was maybe going to check it out but it's a fruitcake. all i can think of is those fruitcakes you get for christmas that you never want to eat. >> exactly the same one. >> maybe they like those things better in britain. you would know, max. >> it's very traditional. always a fruitcake for wedding cakes. i reported in great depth on the wedding. i spoke to the wedding cake maker. she is the best in britain. if you are going to spend a lot of money on a piece of cake, a tiny sliver of cake, this is probably it. i suspect people are going to be buying it as an investment. diana's wedding cake sold a couple years ago for $2,000. you could make good money. >> you could. i'll take your word -- i'm sure the fruitcake is better over there than it is here. thanks so

max foster reporting live from london. more talk about how to burn it off. are you trying to get in shape for summer, training for the first big run? you are not alone. i'm training for a mini triathlon and since i'm putting myself through torture anding a a aoning aony, i want to put you through it too. >> you have never run a race before and you really want to? and you don't know how to get started. let's ask april. she's a professional tri-athlete. just a typical beginner training session, what's my first training session look like? >> set a pattern from the proia. >> we will walk for ten minutes and warm up and we will go into a five minute walk and five minute jog. whatever i set from the beginning, i hold myself accountable. even if you are starting with a

one-minute jog. that might be a good place to start for some people. tons of great resources online that are typically free. find a plan to help you reach that goal. >> if you want to get in shape with me, every thursday i'll have a tip on how you can get there. it is part of the 2012 fit nation challenge. dr. sanjay gupta heads that up right here on thursdays. ]h(éq#

all right. this just in to cnn. we had to show you the live pictures. this is near orlando. that would be a giant sinkhole in the backyard of the poor person's home.

imagine you are drinking coffee in the morning and look out the back window and whoa! there's a sinkhole. it is about 50 feet wide and 50 feet deep. no evacuations. we will keep an eye on this. this thing has swallowed four trees. if you are the homeowner, you are worried a lot about your house. we will check back. we asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. should the united states help the blind chinese dissident leave china? steve says absolutely not. we need them to keep our country running. this is from eric. we should offer passage to the united states. if he gets here, we should let him stay. this from colleen. we need to acknowledge chinese laws. how would our country react if a home-grown terrorist would escape? and charles said his situation is sad and we need china more

than ever to help with north korea and iran. keep the conversation going at facebook.com/carolcnn. we will have more in the next hour of newsroom. ouch of gar. .. and pure natural flavors. coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally. introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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that should do it. enjoy your new shower. [ door opens, closes ] ♪ home of the brave. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ and certain men... find a way to rise above. this is the land of giants. ♪ guts. glory. ram. junior seau, it is safe to say so many people are still in

shock over this. he is just such a big, strong guy. >> absolutely. people in the sports world and people who knew the name were surprised by the news. only 43 years old and to see his mother come out and speak to the press. a mother should never have to bury their child. on a brighter note, there was another southern california native. junior seau was a san diego guy. there was another native in california who made his moment in sports history last night. jered weaver, pitcher for the anaheim angels. he signed with the team. he said he could have gone to a lot of places. he wanted to stay in anaheim. he wanted his wife and mother to enjoy moments of his career. he faced the twins and took them down. he had everything working. his fastball with great command. weaver's 121st pitch put him in

the mlb record books. the final out? hold your breath. went to the warning track. he throws his first no hitter. his parents there to see the thing. very happy and very excited for their son. the nfl has brought down the hammer on the bounty gate scandal. jonathan vilma has been suspended for the season. saints teammate will smith got a four-game suspension. he pledged money for the bounty program. two others suspended for this. the pr mess continues for the saints. >> i don't think it is over yet. thanks, joe. next hour of cnn newsroom starts right now. good morning to you. i'm carol costello.

the gold mine of the most known terrorists. osama bin laden. his plans and fears and 6,000 pages of documents. parts of it hitting the internet. right now, we are combing it through you. zero warning. that is what people are saying about the sudden death of junior seau. and we are in danger. the words of chen guangcheng. now wanting to board the plane to the united states. and mushrooms now being used to treat cancer? "cnn newsroom" starts right now. we begin this hour with a rare and startling look inside the mind of osama bin laden. this morning, the public is getting its first look at documents seized in the raid

from the mastermind. the leader desperate to launch another strike on the united states. hundreds and hundreds of pages are now appearing on the web site of the combating terrorism center at west point. nic robertson is in london. nic, what have you found? >> reporter: carol, another interesting nugget. here is bin laden, the son of a billionaire. wanting to send a top leader to yemen. one group he thought could at least give him about 200,000 euro. here is the guy looking for money. and jealousy creeping in. suggested by some of bin laden's deputies he should take over. bin laden says nice guy, but let's see him get on the battle field first.

a real slap down for that rising star. bin laden seems to be having trouble controlling the big organization created here. >> why is the government releasing the documents to the public, nic? >> reporter: this is 17 out of 6,000 documents taken from the compound from a year ago in pakistan. what is emerging here is a narrative that shows al qaeda and bin laden is not as cohesive as we might have thought. there are differences and concerns. concerns that bin laden should move the al qaeda camps away from pakistan where the drones can strike and satellite surveillance and hide deeper in afghanistan in the mountains. this is a man concerned about what al qaeda did in iraq. the narrative that emerges is, al qaeda is a fractured organization with differences of

opinion that bin laden was struggling by sending letters and he might take two or three months to get replies back from commanders. struggling to control. deep differences of opinion. i think that's the picture that the government would like us to see and the world to understand about al qaeda. carol. >> fascinating reading. i'll let you get back to it. if you would like to read the documents, go to cnn.com. we will provide a link to the west point site. you can gaze at the documents to your heart's content. it was only something a few staffers knew about, but now president obama is talking about the raid of osama bin laden. the intense scene of the white house that night. the president talks about the relief he felt when the mission was completed and what it means for his time as commander in chief. >> i will tell you when i saw that pilot, i gave him a pretty good hug. >> most important day of your

presidency? >> most important single day of my presidency. the most intense, concentrated day that i have had as president of the united states. >> the president added that his team wasn't certain that bin laden was in pakistan. it was a 50/50 proposition that the leader had been found. the shock and grief over junior seau's death -- this is really difficult to watch. this is his mom. >> junior! why you never telling me? i pray to god take me. take me. leave my child alone. i love you. >> seau's apparent suicide hitting all of san diego hard. he played most of his career with the chargers, but helped out with community service

projects during his playing days. he was 43. he was found dead in his home from a bullet wound in the chest. it is too soon to know if violent hits that junior seau affected his brain. the timing of the lawsuit of the nfl is interesting. the lawsuit filed in federal court on behalf of 114 former nfl players and we want to talk about the death of junior seau and the lawsuit with nfl star and friend jamal anderson. >> good morning, carol. it is unfortunate. junior was a fantastic guy and one of the better players to play the game and this position. >> you know, one of the players -- one player who played with junior seau said when seau was injured, he would hide it from his teammates. he did not want them to know he was hurting. >> that is the situation when you are a leader of a football

team. they know it is of critical importance to be as healthy as you can to lead the team. anytime the guy who is a star and leader of your team, there is a chink in the armor, if you will. there is not a way to disclose your injury. we are talking about a culture of football. when junior got into the nfl, when guys were getting banged up, doctors and other people on the staff are trying to get them back on the football field. if the product isn't playing, the team isn't winning. especially the top product. it is so early. >> let's talk about the speculation that is out there. junior seau is hiding his injuries. you say that the doctors and physicians are hiding his injuries, maybe. and the nfl is 114 -- 114 nfl players are filing the lawsuit today talking about concussions in the nfl and how the nfl didn't take care of its players.

>> there is a renewed emphasis about protecting players. you see the fines and suspensions and what took place with the saints scandal. it was a different culture when junior seau got into the nfl. >> would you be shocked if seau had an injury to his brain? >> no, because of the way he played football. i fully expect the way i played the game that i will have some issues down the line. you know, i fully expect these things to happen. if you play the game a certain way, you played it with a certain energy. junior seau. you talk about a guy who attacked on the football field and was excited and got people fired up. the way he did everything was 110%. even with respect giving back to the community and his family. the people that he looked out for. he did everything to the greatest and highest extent you could possibly do it. if that meant in certain

instances, i'm banged up and i don't want to save this, i'll get out and play. or with the doctors. the game has changed. there are different things in place to protect players. you see now the result of all of these things from the brain injuries and the documents that came out before. there are lawsuits being filed all over the country. there are several players, including myself, who have to strongly consider what we are going to do next. the next phase you get involved. you have to look out for your family and you have to understand there were things that were hidden from players and we discovered in the past. there is a different emphasis now. >> i guess my final question for you, you know, you are watching news reports of junior seau's suicide reports. you are thinking this could happen to me? >> you know, there are so many things that happen with retired players. i can't speak to what junior's state of mind was the last couple of months. the last time i saw him, this is not the guy i would see doing this. when i got the phone call,

unfortunately, it was a call before the news. that was next. when i got the phone call, my first thought was, yeah, right? not junior seau. not this guy. the guy that is always smiling and full of life and loves his family and loves giving back. i cannot say what was going on in his head or what was going on in his head literally and the circumstances and how unfortunate at times with the other suicides we have seen with players. my hope is that, you know, the best possible outcome can happen from here. the damage is done and the football world is sad because we lost a tremendous person and tremendous player. carol. >> it is so sad. he was a great guy. jamal, thank you so much. >> no problem. >> we have reached out to the nfl for a comment. when we hear back from the nfl, we will share their response. we are trying to figure out

what happened when a chinese activist left the u.s. embassy. chen guangcheng said he was pressured to leave. now he says he is in danger and he does want to come to the united states. and a way for people to cope with terminal cancer. doctors are reviewing a pill that is based on mushrooms. you remember them. they say it could ease anxiety. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ?

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13 minutes past the hour. hillary clinton meets with chinese leaders to talk about trade, but everyone else is talking about the diplomatic fire storm surrounding her visit. a blind activist, chen

guangcheng wants the united states and hillary clinton to help his family leave china. he left the u.s. embassy yesterday. now chen says he is in grave danger. i know you talked to the u.s. ambassador. what did he say? >> reporter: gary loch is the ambassador. he helped harbor chen when he escaped house arrest. he was there when chen left the embassy. you saw them smiling together. you saw him take chen to the hospital. everything changed between the embassy and speaking to us. he did in the want to stay in china. he wanted to go to the united states. he was then pointing the finger at the u.s. saying they did not treat him properly. we put those questions to gary

loch. he said they did do the right thing by chen. it was always chen's idea to stay in china. he said chen wanted to be a freedom fighter for his country and be reunited with his family and live out his life here. this is what we had to hear from chen guangcheng when we got hold of him at 3:00 in the morning. it's an a small voice on the end of a phone line, but with an explosive story to tell. from his hospital bed, the blind dissident the world wants to hear from, now tells cnn he fears for his life. he wants to get out of china and is appealing to president obama. i would like to say to him, please do everything you can to get our whole family out. he pleads. he wants to go to the united states. a country that hours earlier drove him to a chinese hospital and he says left him there.

chen had been holed up six days in the u.s. embassy. he fled refuge there. after back room negotiations, the chinese and chen seemed to have reached a deal. a smiling chen guangcheng is seen leaving for treatment at the hospital, but between leaving the u.s. grounds and speaking to us, everything changed. i'm very disappointed with the u.s. government he says. chen says he was urged to leave and deserted. he said they promised to be with me at the hospital. this afternoon, they were all gone. inside the embassy walls, chen says, he was cut off from the outside world. now doesn't think he knew enough to make such a critical decision. at the time i didn't have a lot of information, he says, i

wasn't allowed to call my friends from the embassy. i couldn't keep up with the news so i didn't know a lot of what was happening. what was happening, he now says, is his family in their village was being terrorized. after discovering chen escaped, police turned on his wife. she was tied to a chair by police for two days, he tells us, they carried thick sticks to our house threatening to beat her to death. if he didn't leave the embassy, chen said, his wife was told she would pay the price. they would send her back to shan den and beat her to death. each time they are trying to confirm the claims and we have been physically ejected from his village. this day, chen passed the phone to his wife. like her husband, she says there is no future for them here. >> translator: after seeing the reality, we both want to leave this place with our kids as soon

as possible. it is very dangerous for us. >> reporter: all of this is played out for secretary of state hillary clinton in beijing for trade talks. secretary clinton saying, quote, chen has a number of understandings with the chinese government and the patchy fossi of pursuing higher education. >> we have very strict protocols on how to handle these things. i saw on three occasions our ambassadors here ask specifically as we are required to do with witnesses around, mr. chen, are you ready to leave the embassy voluntarily. each time he said let's do it. let's go. >> reporter: now the story continues to twist and turn, carol. we now know that chen guangcheng

wants to leave the country and go to the united states. ambassador loch says for chen to go to the u.s., he would have to seek asylum and he would have to be on u.s. soil. that includes the embassy. the embassy he walked away from. >> wow. stan grant reporting from beijing this morning. a new way to cope with terminal cancer. it involves magic mushrooms and lsd. and michele bachmann will endorse mitt romney. the same mitt romney she slammed for months. in the world of politics, it makes perfect sense. our political buzz panel will weigh in. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays,

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doctors are trying out a new experiment to help people cope with terminal cancer. some may find it controversial as medical marijuana. this new solution doesn't involve marijuana, but magic mushrooms. deb favrik has the story. >> is this a good representation? >> yeah. i think so. just dark and retched and gloomy. >> reporter: with incurable stage four cancer spreading through her body, she had nothing to lose. she put on headphones and lay down and swallowed a powerful drug with the same chemical properties as magic mushrooms of the '60s. >> it's kind of a wonderful, visual world of colors and

figures and motion and more profound than that, for me, was a feeling of maybe connected through time to other artists to a creative force and to a feeling of peace. >> reporter: in combination with therapy, that feeling lasted nearly five months. for some people taking part in the fda new york university study, the feeling has lasted longer. because it is in the same legal category as cocaine and crystal meth, the drug is kept under lock and key. this vial contains 100 doses of the drug and is valued at $12,000. dr. steven ross, an addiction specialist has been given a license. to help if it can help end-stage cancer patients like nor ma.

>> i have had patients with decreased depression and living more meaningful lives. >> reporter: dr. michael guss is a trial v a trial investigator. >> some people begin to withdrawal and life has no meaning. >> reporter: the trial is in the second phase. finding a single dose helps people let go of life-long habits and behaviors. >> it is our hope that the experience will awaken a new way of understanding themselves. >> reporter: norma is now more at peace. >> a feeling of being connected to people and the universe and the past and present that i'm sort of passing through he. >> reporter: deborah feyerick,

cnn, new york. now is your chance to talkback for the day. should the united states help the blind chinese dissident leave china? it is more like a 1:30 a.m. wake-up call. they won't take us to the brink of war, but it won't damage our relationship with china. the problem is what to do about chen guangcheng. he left the refuge of the u.s. embassy after the brokered deal with his freedom. chen has changed his mind. in a cnn interview, chen pleads with president obama to help him leave china. >> translator: i would like to say to him, please do everything you can to get our whole family out. i'm very disappointed with the u.s. government. >> chen says u.s. officials pressured him to leave the

safety of the embassy. the u.s. ambassador said chen left of his own volition. for now, secretary clinton is carefully choosing her words in china. >> the united states raises the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms. we believe all governments do have to answer to citizens aspirations for dignity and the rule of law. >> but at this moment, we want china's help in dealing with countries like north korea and iran and syria and more cooperation on fair trade rules and currency exchange. the chen situation makes things tougher because america promotes and prides itself for human rights around the world. even going to war to further that goal. should the united states help the blind chinese dissident leave china? go to facebook.comcarolcnn.

the newt gingrich speech is raising a storm. our political panel weighs in. ♪ [ male announcer ] virtual wallet can help you be that person who's good with money. see what's free to spend. move money with a slide. save with a shake. feel good about your decisions.

just about 30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. i'm carol costello. stories we are watching right now in the newsroom. we are learning more about the mind of osama bin laden. many documents seized in the raid that killed osama bin laden are now online for all to see. our security experts are sifting through the papers right now. we will have more on the findings in a few minutes. the corruption trial for john edwards is expected to continue today.

his driver is expected to hit the witness stand today. testimony about a fight between kate's parents and his dad's affair prompted her to leave the courtroom in tears. a new jersey mother pleads not guilty to child endangerment. you heard about her by now. she is accused of taking her daughter into the tanning salon booth. the new york post having fun with the story today calling the woman "toast of the town." political buzz is your rapid fire looks at your topics of the day. we have funny guy pete dominic and sam sader and cnn contributor will cain. welcome to you all. >> good morning. >> first question. president obama is caught between an economic rock and

hard place. chen guangcheng is pleading president obama to help him get out of china. we know how co-dependent the two countries are. >> nobody has the upper hand in the u.s./china relationship. when the u.s. went for capital and know how, the u.s. had the upper hand. now the u.s. needs the deficit help and the chinese market growth. >> how big is this issue for the white house? sam? >> it can be a big one. this country is in a tough predictment. we had john hu found. we have a drone. it is tough to be morally righteous and be america these days. >> pete? >> sam makes good points. there was a time when these

infractions or human rights violations in china would have prompted the u.s. to invade that country. we buy so many products from their factories. the white house needs a clear focus or message. broken leg and blind guy? maybe we should send in s.e.a.l. team six to help out instead of hillary clinton. they need to stay consistent on it. >> will. >> this is embarrassing for the chinese and the obama administration. i spoke to gordon cheng. he said the united states has to project strength when dealing with china. the chinese do not respond to the accommodating tone. they respond to strength. i talked to pete often and give obama credit for the foreign policy. especially on bin laden. this is a place where the lack

of strength has consequences. we must project clear strength to the chinese. >> to question two. michele bachmann will endorse mitt romney. the person who could not beat barack obama. is this an endorsement mitt romney will want? will? >> it is not going to have a huge affect on how many supporter goes to romney. they will go to him anyway. the choice is barack obama. if michele bachmann made a big stink about not endorsing mitt romney. if any republican did the same, that would have an affect. a negative affect. it has a limited positive effect, but it could have a negative effect. >> sam. >> i don't think it is that strange that michele bachmann who thinks that mitt romney can't beat obama. that describes the majority of the republican party. i don't think anybody in the republican party thinks that

mitt romney can beat president obama. so, they all will hop along on the band wagon just so they look like team players. >> pete. >> yeah, i think this is a good endorsement for mitt romney. he needs that kind of right wing, unhinged social conservative doesn't believe in science endorsement. he doesn't need anymore super billionaire monopoly men. i think this is right on the bottom of her "to do" list heading into complete obscure ty. >> on to the third question. this could be the last newt gingrich-related question in the buzz ever. >> doubtful. >> his exit speech lasted abouts as long as the 100 year war and

"titanic." he talked about the ellis the elephant and alzheimer's disease and todd palin and radical islamists, nixon and carter and the civil service and the civil war and finally, i'm out of breath. the moon colony. did he leave anything out, pete? >> yeah, his marriages. he read his resume. it reminded me the end of the scooby doo episode. if it weren't for the meddling romney, my campaign would have continued. the shorter newt was i'm going to head into mondernity and write historical fiction about george washington. >> sam. >> he left something out. where is the announcement about the show on fox? he surely has a next plan to

raise more funds off this campaign. like pete almost implied, this is a book tour. i want to find out what his next entertainment product that will be putting out is and frankly, i am sitting here with waiting breath. >> that was a book tour. >> will. >> i think it is obviously easy to mock newt gingrich. i'll say this. somewhere hidden in the ridelyn-deprived, there is good stuff on asteroids. as we mock, you might look closely to a few of those things. >> we are sufficiently chastised, will cain. thanks for playing today. we appreciate it. a new ad for popchips

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right now we're sifting through newly released documents that capture the thoughts and

actions of osama bin laden sees sei seized in the raid. hundreds of pages appearing on the web site combating terrorism center at west point. nic robertson has been looking at the documents. anymore interesting nuggets come your way? >> reporter: i think the more you look, the more time you realize bin laden had time on his hands. he saw the media as being hugely important to al qaeda's fight. one of the things he wanted to do was centralize al qaeda's control of whatever they did and whatever they said in the media. he wanted a centralization of the plans. everything he wanted to be signed off by him or by his senior deputies that any of the affiliates should be doing. it shows up here of the complexity of trying to manage

the massive organization has huge differences going on with the taliban affiliate in pakistan and those in somalia and jealousies creeping in here. he doesn't want to support anwar al awlaki. he shoots that down. he says put him on the battle field and test him out. the time that he has on his hands and the complexity of what he is trying to do and the differences in the organization are all breaking through here, carol. >> we wonder how much control he had over al qaeda since he was hiding out -- we know he was hiding out in pakistan. does it seem to you he still has complete control over the movement? >> reporter: no, he didn't. there were differences of opinion. there were those in his organization that wanted to embrace the wildest elements of al qaeda. he is very critical of al qaeda for the attacks and the fighting

the tribes of iraq. there are others in his organization who are saying we should embrace these people. you look at some of the decisions that have happened since bin laden's death, he said that the al qaeda, what is now their affiliate in somalia, should never have announced that and never joined al qaeda. now the differing views are taking over. >> nic robertson, we appreciate it. if you want to see the documents, go to cnn.com. you can peruse all you want. a terrible look at history. some businesses have the "wanted" sign out, but they don't have the special skills. we have a newsroom special report.

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45 minutes past the hour. checking the top stories now. secretary of state hillary clinton meets with chinese leaders on strategic and economic issues. a diplomatic crisis is overshadows that process. a chinese dissident is begging to come to america. saying his family's life is in danger. john edwards' trial continues this morning. edwards' daughter kate left the

courtroom in tears after learning of the affair with rielle hunter. police find $1 million in a storage unit and believe the money is connected to a fugitive. bobby thompson is the man. he is accused of setting up a phony charity and scamming people in 40 states. he had been on the run for two years. every week, we hear about the numbers of people looking for a job and simply cannot find one. why are some employers saying we are hiring, but cannot find workers. we are looking at businesses who have positions and cannot fill the positions. yesterday, we hit the east coast and today, we hit the west coast. in california, unemployment is at 11%. it is sill higher than the national rate of 8.2%. let's bring in ali curry.

he owns a company woopra. he wants to double the size in the next couple of months. ali, welcome. >> hi, how are you? good morning. >> you put out the word for more workers. you have plenty of people to choose from and what happens? >> well, first we moved to san francisco and the plan was to get the talent pool in the region. the problem is there is a huge demand on designers and it is so hard. at the same time, there are few designers working for companies. i have been spending time with the designers. i fixed out they can make more money by freelancing rather than working with a company. >> hold on a second. that really is a trend. when you talk to young people coming out of college, they don't dream of working for someone. they dream of starting their own business. so you are actually seeing that

in real time. >> exactly. that is correct. the biggest problem is that in the ui industry, it is not something that can be taught in schools. there are a lot of people doing graphic design and a lot of people doing software development. there is a big confusion here that graphic designers are not really designers. graphic designers are -- the difference between both are as different as ui design and fashion design. that is why every time we try to hire a ui designer, we keep getting portfolios from graphic designers. there are very few ui designers doing the job very well. not interested in working for companies. for example, facebook, it is hard to hire ui designers.

sometimes they get mark zuckerberg to call them personally to hire them. >> do you have a strategy? >> there are a lot of ways to deal with that. one of them is try to get someone who is passionate about design with not a lot of experience and try to train them in house. some other ways to do that is like -- i'm a ui designer myself. i'm passionate about the subject. i have been doing ui design since i was 13. we are lucky to have a ui designer in the company. a lot of founders out there like pinterest. we are seeing a lot of ui designers founders in the industry, which is helping a lot to start up from the ground up. other solutions for the problem would be by just -- we are seeing a lot of universities starting new programs for ui

design. they understand now the difference between ui and graphic design. we started seeing a program for that. i hope to see more programs like that because it is a huge battle here in the silicon valley with the ui designers. >> it is so frustrating. thank you so much for talking with us today. if you are interested in elie's company, go to cnn.com/money. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me here. >> tomorrow we will head to pittsburgh to talk to another small business owner who is struggling to find more qualified workers. check out our web site at cnnmoney.com. i'v always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs,

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ashton kutcher and potato chipmaker popchips have explaining to do this morning. they released this ad featuring kutcher playing a variety of characters. one featured kutcher in "brown face." it did not go over so well. a.j. hammer is in new york to tell us about the fall out. >> reporter: thought they were being funny. ashton is taking heat from the popchips viral campaign. kutcher appears in the ad portraying four separate

characters. it is the one where kutcher is wearing makeup to look indian. he is dressed in indian garb. shortly after the ad premiered, twitter users went nuts. they criticized the actor and company for racial insensitinos ty. i want to read the comment. we received a lot of feedback about the dating parody. we appreciate the point of view. the team worked hard to create a number of characters. we did not intend to offend anyone. i apologize foroffended. the problem with the internet ad means the ad is probably out there everywhere.

we have not heard from ashton kutcher yet. >> thank you, a.j. we appreciate it. we asked you to talk back on the big story of the day. this is the question for you. should the united states help the blind chinese dissident leave china? we will have your answers on the other side of the break. it fins , ohhshoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. ♪

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we asked you to talk back on the question of the day. should the united states help the chinese dissident leave china? larry said, no. i have been working in china for the last ten years. he has dug his own hole. this is from brad. the government is murderous and illegal and a burden to the world. to not stand up to them is

disgraceful. this is from andy. it is not time to risk our relationship with china. the chinese government would be less willing to negotiate when everybody in the world doesn't know about it. this from liz. we can sympathize, but it is not part of the larger world. thanks for watching. i'm carol costello. the news continues with kyra phillips. we have a busy hour ahead. let's start with delusional and worried about his brand. we are talking about osama bin laden as revealed in his personal documents just published online by the u.s. government. more than 6,000 documents were taken by navy s.e.a.l.s one year